will_daniel1

Here's a good analogy, Steven. When you started in photography 42 years ago people cared about their writing. You wouldn't see a billboard, magazine or newspaper with misspelled words, bad grammar or wrong punctuation (stupid misuse of apostrophes, for example). Now bad writing is everywhere, and people just don't care. I'm a professional writer-editor. Do you think I should rant like you did? Hell no. I am grateful that I get paid to fix other people's bad writing, and teach writing courses at the university level. When I was a web content editor, I got paid to fix other people's bad photos as well. When I see bad writing and photography, I just move on. I don't care if people make money with their bad writing or bad photography. Good for them. The rant does no good, except maybe make you feel a little better.

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Way to go, Matt. Thanks.

In addition to the ASA vs. ISO thing, the found canister is 20 exposures. The film might be older than you think. Does anyone know when Kodak abandoned 20-exposure Tri-X in favor of 24?

<p>Ron, since you own a bookstore, you should be able to access my book, <em><a href="http://www.willdaniel.com/james/">James River Reflections</a></em> (Schiffer Books). My publisher's design team did a pretty good job of putting the photos in places that accentuate my text. On numerous pages the designers morphed two photos together (<a href="http://www.willdaniel.com/james/001a">like this</a>). I think it worked quite well in some places and not so much in others. I take no credit (or blame) for the design; just suggesting you take a look at it.</p>

This is as good a time and place as any to announce that I have accomplished (or will have by Dec. 31) my 2011 New Year's resolution. It is the first time in my life I have accomplished this, and I'm very proud of myself. I made the same resolution in 2010 and failed to achieve it. The resolution? To shoot no film this year. This was difficult for someone who has been a photographer on one level or another since 1969, but it's a new era for me -- 100 percent digital and staying that way. I sold all of my film gear and resisted the urge to buy bargain-priced replacements. I am weaned, but like Wouter, no hipster.

If you agree to send a photo to each family you photograph, what's to stop you from sending a very low-resolution, copyright-protected image? Your accompanying message could be a sales pitch for various size prints or high-resolution image on CD. If you could get that wording into your agreement, everyone wins. If your work is good you will make sales.

James, if you are going to get anywhere with the folks here in photo.net, you need to recognize sarcasm when you see it. Pierre was responding to your request for only pros to view your site (that's my read on his post).

<p>Steve,</p>

<p>Earlier this year I published <em><a href="http://www.willdaniel.com/james">James River Reflections</a> </em>(Schiffer Books), a photojournalistic approach to Virginia's James River. It is linear in that the chapters are organized from the beginning of the river in the mountains to the end where it flows into the Chesapeake Bay, and it is narrative to the tune of 22,000 words. If you were to look at that river on a map, you could see the (linear) flow of my book. I just finished the photography phase and am working on the writing phase of a sequel, <em>My Virginia Rivers</em>, to be published next year under contract to Schiffer.</p>

I use Matt's system routinely (religiously), and have never had a memory card fail. For years, I simply deleted the files in the computer, but lately have been re-formatting the memory card in camera. My experience over several years and dozens of memory cards is that both ways of deleting files has worked perfectly.

I know this won't work for everyone, but I keep my lenses in my very well padded bag with filters and lens hoods attached -- ready for use at any moment. Front lens caps are stored separately in the bag just in case I need them, but I seldom do. Rear lens caps aren't an issue because whenever I change lenses, I put the rear lens cap from the one I'm going to use onto the one I just removed from the camera. This has worked for me for more years than I care to mention. Now, where did I put that tripod?

You love that stuff because you have three of the finest Zuiko lenses made in that era (speaking as a former Olympus sales rep). If it were me I would want to add just one more, and that would be the 28/2.8.

As an old-timer who spent many years in the photo industry, I remember well the gimmicks of yesteryear that are now essential elements in any reputable camera. I remember, for example, Konica pushing its shutter-preferred automatic exposure while Pentax was pushing aperture-preferred. Battle lines were drawn until Canon introduced cameras that had BOTH built into them plus programmed automatic exposure so photographers could decide for themselves. Another gimmick was Pentax's Super-Multicoating for lenses. The industry mocked it until it was proved to increase light transmission from 85 percent to 97 percent (if memory serves me correctly on those numbers) and also improved color saturation. All of these former gimmicks are in today's cameras; today's gimmicks will be in all of tomorrow's cameras. Progress is OK with me.

Matthew, thanks for the Walgreen's tip. My local store had one Sandisk 2gb card left for a clearance price of $7.49.

Thanks guys. A friend had an extra card, so I'm good now. I think I like Zane's idea best. I will check out the thrift stores.

It seems you can't buy smaller than 4gb memory cards in stores nowadays, but I just bought an older used 5

megapixel camera that needs a small SD (not SDHC or SDXC, etc) card. Does anyone know of a source for small,

older cards? Perhaps someone has "throw-away" cards they'd like to throw my way. I'm hoping to find a 256mb or

512mb card. Thanks.

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Olympus taught me one crucial aspect of marketing: You can sell ANYTHING with TV advertising. Olympus apparently had advertising commitments secured before the OM-10 and Cheryl Tiegs came on the scene, so we put the OM-1 in the TV ads for a short time as a stopgap until the OM-10s came out. Well, the OM-1 was completely obsolete at this point compared to the fully automatic, plastic-bodied, lower cost new stuff on the market (Canon AE-1, Pentax ME, etc.). But when the ads started running, dealers couldn't keep OM-1s in stock. It was insanity. Using the "before TV advertising" paradigm, that shouldn't have happened. Why would consumers buy a fully mechanical, fully manual camera that was never designed for general consumer use in the first place? TV advertising. It was all very new to us in the late 1970s, early 1980s, but it changed camera marketing forever.

Mike, I could tell from your initial posting about Konica and Tamron stuff that you were a solid Berkey Marketing account. The influence the sales rep had over the brands carried in mom & pop stores was evident to those in the business, but maybe not so much to the customer. In short, camera stores sold the brands they were comfortable with, and the sales reps had a lot to do with that. I didn't know Ira, but I bet he was a great sales rep.

As a sales rep for Pentax starting in 1973, then later Olympus and still later lots of other companies (independent mfrs. rep), I earned my living off of mom and pop stores. In order to do so, I had to establish relationships with the owners all over the place. I traveled throughout Pennsylvania, Upstate New York and all of New Jersey at one time or another. Clifton Cameras was a good account for me with Pentax, as I recall. I made a lot of friends in those days, and I do miss the mom and pop shops, for sure.

Andrew, without having seen the marketing materials you refer to, I'm going out on a limb and guess that there's nothing misleading about them. It is likely those "experienced professionals" have invested untold resources in setting up the equipment so that the retail clerks (the job you applied for) can press the button with a reasonable assurance of getting consistent quality photographs. If my guess is correct, I don't see anything misleading about it. Maybe you should apply for a job as one of those behind-the-scenes guys instead of the retail clerk.

Andrew, don't discount government employment in public affairs. Starting pay is pretty good for a college graduate, and it can be a rewarding career. Get the degree in journalism, but pick up some electives in multimedia and photojournalism. Once you get your foot in the door you can figure out how and where you can specialize. Without a degree, there are ample opportunities in the military, especially the Air Force and Navy. They will send you to Defense Information School (DINFOS), which, believe it or not is an accredited school of journalism (credits from there transfer to four-year colleges). The military route is definitely not for everyone, but the same training and educational opportunities are available to reservists and National Guard members.

When I was the editor of a weekly newspaper, I told my photojournalist that the best front-page, stand-alone photo is one that needs no words to go with it, but he must write the words anyway. That is a tough assignment, but he gave it to me on average about five times a year.

I'll check it out today. I use a $9.99 Targus monopod from Radio Shack -- no complaints.

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